A bank or other issuer issues credit cards having corresponding credit card accounts to individuals (hereafter, "account holders"). A credit card account typically has a credit line associated therewith, which indicates a maximum monetary amount that may be charged to the account. An account holder may use his credit card to purchase goods and/or services (collectively, "goods") from one or more merchants in an aggregate amount that may not exceed the credit line for the account.
It is common for an account holder to permit another person (hereafter, "user") to purchase goods using a credit card that is linked to the account holder's account. When doing so, however, it is possible that the user may abuse privileges afforded by the credit card and thus may embark on a frivolous and costly spending spree for which the account holder is ultimately responsible.
The potential for such abuse is readily apparent in the case in which a parent permits a child to purchase goods using a credit card that is linked to the parent's account. The parent may attempt to curtail the potential abuse by providing guidelines to the child concerning appropriate uses of the credit card. Thus, the parent may instruct the child that the credit card is to be used only in cases of "emergency." However, for any number of reasons, such guidelines and instructions may be insufficient to prevent the abuse. For example, the parent's definition of an "emergency" may differ greatly from that of the child's thus resulting in charges to the credit card that would be deemed inappropriate by the parent.
Parents and other account holders are currently limited in their ability to control and manage charges made by users using credit cards that are linked to their accounts. While certain known techniques endeavor to provide adequate control, they suffer from significant problems.
For example, First Bank's "Corporate Relocation Card" service allows an employee to use a credit card that is linked to an employer's account. It is intended that the employee will use the credit card to pay for certain types of expenses--i.e., those necessary for relocation. Due to the potential for abuse by an employee, the employer is permitted to control the types of expenses that the employee may charge to the credit card.
To do this, the employer designates certain classes of merchants (by Standard Industrial Classification ("SIC") code and/or Merchant Category Code ("MCC")) from which an employee may not purchase goods. The SIC code and/or MCC are associated with the credit card account in First Bank's database so that transactions for which a designated SIC code or MCC is received during the conventional transaction authorization process are declined.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,422 to Dethloff entitled "Multi-User Card System" discloses a programmable card that is issued to a cardholder. The card can be programmed by the cardholder for use by a sub-user. The system allows the cardholder to set criteria by which the sub-user may use the card--e.g., a maximum amount of money that can be charged to the card and/or a time period in which the sub-user may use the card. In this way, the cardholder is able to gain some control over the ways in which the sub-user may use the card. Although the First Bank service and the Dethloff patent each provide an account holder with some ability to control a card-based transaction executed by a user, they do not permit an account holder to exercise this control remotely and based on circumstances surrounding the transaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,110 to Wong entitled "Security System For Non-Cash Transactions" discloses a system and method in which an owner of a credit card is notified when the credit card is used for a transaction. According to this patent, if a transaction is "illegal" (e.g., executed by someone other than the owner or is of a particular type), then the owner may use a telephone and contact the credit card issuer to stop the transaction. The Wong patent, however, does not enable communication between the owner and the person executing the transaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,007 to McAllister entitled "Telephone Based Credit Protection" teaches a technique for verifying the identity of a cardholder. According to the McAllister patent, a conventional credit card authorization process is initiated by a merchant and suspended by a credit card issuer who is verifying the transaction. At the point-of-sale, a voice sample of the cardholder is taken and is transmitted via telephone to the credit card issuer's system. The credit card issuer's system matches the voice sample taken from the cardholder at the point-of-sale with a pre-recorded digital voice sample that was taken at an earlier time. If the two voice samples match, then the credit card issuer may authorize the transaction, assuming that the other criteria relating to conventional transaction authorization processing are met. Thus, the McAllister patent teaches a way to increase the security of transaction executed by a cardholder, but fails to teach a way for a cardholder to remotely control transactions executed by another user of the credit card.
In view of the above, a substantial need exists for a method and system in which an account holder can communicate with a user executing a card-based transaction and remotely control the authorization or denial thereof contemporaneous with and based on circumstances surrounding the transaction.